John Purse

John Purse
Personal information
Full name John Eric Purse
Nickname "The Vigilante", "The Jackal"
Born (1972-09-07) September 7, 1972
Orlando, Florida, United States
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 83.9 kg (185 lb)
Team information
Current team GHP
Discipline Bicycle Motocross (BMX)
Role Racer
Rider type Off Road
Amateur team(s)
1981-1982 U-Truck-It
1983 Ben’s Bike Shop
1984 Blazer
1985 Roland Racing
1986 S.T.U.D.D
1987-1988 Eagle Snacks/Profile
1988-1989 MCS Bicycles/Eagle Snacks
1989-1990 MCS Bicycles
Professional team(s)
1990 MCS Bicycles
1990-1991 S&S Racing
1991-1992 ODi/Revcore
1992-1993 ODi/GHP
1994-1996 Balance
1996-2001 Redline Bicycles
2001 Profile Racing/Troy Lee Designs/Marzocchi
2002 Troy Lee designs/EVS
2002-2003 Marzocchi/Troy Lee Designs/Intense Racing
2003 Marzocchi/Specialized
2003-2005 Hyundai/Mongoose Bicycles
2006 Redline Bicycles
2006 Sandersclinic.com
2006-2007 Redline Bicycles
2008 GHP/SandersClinic/PowerBar
Infobox last updated on
August 10, 2008

John Eric Purse[1] (b. September 7, 1972 in Orlando, Florida, raised in Spring, Texas U.S.) is a former American professional "Mid School" Bicycle Motocross (BMX) racer. His prime competitive years were from 1990-2000.

Nicknamed "The Vigilante" early in his pro career for his alleged dirty riding and fouling competitors[2] and later and most famously "The Jackal" in the mid-1990s because of his "mad dog" riding style[3] and for his not backing off and his fighting back.[4]

Racing career milestones

Note: All first in Pro Class are on the national level unless otherwise noted.

Started racing: February 8, 1981 at eight years old at Armadillo Downs in Conroe, Texas.[5][6]

Sanctioning body: American Bicycle Association (ABA)

First race result: Second place.[5]

First win (local):

Home sanctioning body district(s): ABA Texas 3 (Tex-3) (1985);
United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA) Texas District 4 (TX-4) (1986)

First sponsor: U-Truck-It 1981.[7]

First national win:

Turned Professional: January 1990 at age 17.[8] He forged his mother's signature on the Pro License applications to the ABA and NBL. His mother got wind of it a couple of months later (Purse had been doing quite well as a pro in the interim, including winning his first pro race. See "First Professional race result" below) and complained to both sanctions. She ordered that John to be suspended and prevented from racing pro since he did so without her permission. He found out when he went to sign up to race the NBL Memphis Indoor Classic in Memphis, Tennessee in March 1990. He had to sit out both days of racing.[9] He got his pro papers in order in time to race the ABA Supernationals in El Paso, Texas. He won this last "A" pro race on Sunday (Day 2) April 1, 1990 and was moved up to "AA" pro.[10]

First Professional race result: First place in "A" pro at the ABA Lone Star Nationals San Antonio, Texas on January 27, 1990. He won US$525,[11] the equivalent of US$826.26 in 2007 (Cost of Living Calculator)

First Professional win: See above.

First Junior Pro* race result: See above.

First Junior Pro win: See above.

First Senior Pro** race result: Seventh place in "AA" pro at the ABA Mid-America Nationals in Blue Springs, Missouri on May 12, 1990 (Day 1).[12]

First Senior Pro win:

Retired: He retired from active in Senior Pro competition in 2007. He currently races in Veteran Pro class.

Height & weight at height of his career (1990–2000): Ht:6'0" Wt:~185 lbs.

*In the NBL it is B"/Superclass/"A" pro (beginning with 2000 season)/"AA" Pro/Elite Men; in the ABA it is "A" pro (depending on the era).
**In the NBL it was/is "B" pro/Superclass/"A" Pro/Junior Elite Men; in the ABA it is "AA" pro.

Career factory and major bike shop sponsors

Note: This listing only denotes the racer's primary sponsors. At any given time a racer could have numerous ever changing co-sponsors. Primary sponsorships can be verified by BMX Press coverage and sponsor advertisements at the time in question. When possible exact dates are given.

Amateur

Professional

‡The latest known date he was known to be sponsored by that company

Career bicycle motocross titles

Note: Listed are District, State/Provincial/Department, Regional, National, and International titles in italics. "Defunct" refers to the fact of that sanctioning body in question no longer existing at the start of the racer's career or at that stage of his/her career. Depending on point totals of individual racers, winners of Grand Nationals do not necessarily win National titles. Series and one off Championships are also listed in block.

Amateur

National Bicycle Association (NBA)

National Bicycle League (NBL)

*The President's Cup was an amateur only non points invitational race held in conjunction with the Christmas Classic National during the last week of December after Christmas and before New Year's, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday.


American Bicycle Association (ABA)

*DAG District Age Group, NAG-National Age Group
In 1985 the ABA experimented with dividing the district points season from one year lasting from January 1 to December 31 to three four-month-long time periods at which a racer could earn a plate number for that time period for their district overall and/or their age group and could race the rest of the year with it. The experiment lasted only for a year before the ABA reverted to a single year-long points gathering season in 1986.

United States Bicycle Motocross Association (USBA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

*See note in Professional section.

Professional

National Bicycle League (NBL)

American Bicycle Association (ABA)

International Bicycle Motocross Federation (IBMXF)*

Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC)*

*None (FIAC did not have a strictly professional division during its existence).
Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)*

USA Cycling:

*Note: Beginning in 1991 the IBMXF and FIAC had been holding joint World Championship events as a transitional phase in merging which began in earnest in 1993. Beginning with the 1996 season the IBMXF and FIAC completed the merger and both ceased to exist as independent entities being integrated into the UCI. Beginning with the 1996 World Championships held in Brighton, England the UCI would officially hold and sanction BMX World Championships and with it inherited all precedents, records, streaks, etc. from both the IBMXF and FIAC.

Independent Pro Series Championships and Invitationals

Notable accolades

*The NORA Cup was an award first created by Bicycle Motocross Action magazine in 1978, with Bobby Encinas being the first recipient, until its demise as Go magazine in 1992. Gary Ellis was the last winner in 1991. Snap BMX Magazine revived the award in 1998, with Gary Ellis being its first winner and rewarded it to Racers, Dirt Jumpers and Freestylers until its demise as Transworld BMX with the January 2005 issue. The NORA Cup is now owned by Ride BMX Magazine.

BMX product lines

Product Evaluation:
Snap BMX Magazine August 2000 Vol.7 Iss.8 No.46 pg.87
Snap BMX Magazine December 2000 Vol.7 Iss.12 No.50 pg.116 (2001 Model Year)
Product Evaluation:
Product Evaluation:

Significant injuries

Racing habits and traits

However, that placid reputation would change very quickly:

Dale Holmes: Over the years you have had some run ins with other riders, who would say were some of your best disagreements with?

John Purse: The one that comes to mind first is Charles Townsend. He gave me my 2nd and 6th broken collarbone from BMX racing. I had an after the race moment with Charles in San Antonio in the early 90’s and yelled at most of the AA’s that were there, I threw my bike at Greg Hill at the Fall Nationals in 1990, a last turn fight with Eric Carter at the 1990 ABA Grands, a conversation with Gary Ellis at the 1995 ABA World Cup after he ran me off the track, and many others along the way. Actually Dale, me and you went round and round when I broke my thumb at ABA Reno in 2001.[31] ----DaleHolmes.com 2002 interview

Purse does indicate that he was the cause of most of the problems in this quote:

When I first turned, (pro) I would just defend myself against others and ride aggressively in return, but I learned that you'll just get disqualified, you'll look bad, and it's just going to cause problems. So I just played their game. If they messed with me on the track, I let it go and just get them next time. So I learned just to chill out.----Ride BMX December 1993[32]

Miscellaneous

Figure 1: It was a helmet similar to this common in Motorcycle Motorcross (MX) and Downhill Mountain Bike (DH/MTB) racing one that Purse help introduced to BMX racing in the mid-1990s
While not mandatory in either the ABA or the NBL, The full face helmet is the worn today by the large majority of BMX racers; pro and amateur alike.

BMX press magazine interviews and articles

BMX magazine covers

Note: Only magazines that were in publication at the time of the racer's career(s) are listed unless specifically noted.

Minicycle/BMX Action & Super BMX:

Bicycle Motocross Action & Go:

BMX Plus!:

Total BMX:

Bicycles and Dirt:

BMX World (1990 version)

Snap BMX Magazine & Transworld BMX:

Twenty BMX:

Moto Mag:

BMX World (2005 version)

NBA World & NBmxA World (The official NBA/NBmxA membership publication):

Bicycles Today & BMX Today (The official NBL membership publication under two names):

ABA Action, American BMXer, BMXer (The official ABA membership publication under three names):

USBA Racer (The official USBA membership publication):

Notes

  1. BMX Plus! January 1997 Vol.20 No.1 pg.69
  2. BMX Plus! August 1992 Vol.15 No.8 pg.19
  3. Snap BMX Magazine November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.92 (Balance Advertisement)
  4. Cash Matthews September 15, 2006 "Vintage BMX" website Interview.
  5. 1 2 John Purse BMX Ultra Interview
  6. BMXStars.com Profile of John Purse.
  7. January 2008 Gary Haselhorst interview at bmxactiononline.com.
  8. Ride BMX December 1993 Vol.2 Iss.6, No.8 pg.30
  9. BMX Plus! July 1990 Vol.13 No.7 pg.24
  10. BMX Plus! August 1990 Vol.13 No.8 pg.48
  11. BMX Plus! May 1990 Vol.13 No.5 pg.22
  12. American BMXer June 1990 Vol.12 No.5 pg.48 (results)
  13. BMX Plus! September 1988 Vol.11 No.9 pg.28
  14. Go October 1990 Vol.1 Iss.12 pg.15
  15. bmxtreme.com article. Word search for "John Purse off Redline?" (without the quotation marks).
  16. May 16, 2003 bmxonline.com interview
  17. FatBMX article on John Purses substituting for Bubba Harris
  18. Website announcing sponsorship of John Purse by the Sanders Clinic.
  19. Winner of Golden crank Award
  20. 1 2 Mongoose.com congratulating John Purse for his 2005 season
  21. BMX Plus! August 1998 Vol.21 No.8 pg.66
  22. John Purse's Website.
  23. bmxtreme article. Word search for "Dixieland" (without the quotation marks)
  24. Snap BMX Magazine December 1999 Vol.6 Iss.10 No.38 pg.84 "B" photo caption
  25. Snap BMX Magazine March 2000 Vol.7 Iss.3 No.41 pg.74
  26. bmxtreme.com article. Search for "collar bone" (without the quotation marks)
  27. Daleholes.com 2002 interview
  28. Transworld BMX October 2002 Vol.9 Iss.10 No.72 pg.24,30&58(photo caption)
  29. Snap BMX Magazine November/December 1995 Vol.2 Iss.6 No.7 pg.32
  30. American BMXer August 1990 Vol.12 No.7 pg.34
  31. DaleHolmes.com 2002 interview
  32. Ride BMX December 1993 Vol.2 Iss.6, No.8 pg.31
  33. BMX Plus! June 1992 Vol.15 No.6 pg.64
  34. BMX Plus! January 1997 Vol.20 No.1 pg.10
  35. BMXtreme.com Press release.
  36. gork-graphics.com Kyle Bennett page. Note: This page states that Kyle Bennett raced A pro in 1998. This is incorrect. The author of the page maybe confusing Kyle Bennett and Kyle Bennit, an AA pro at the time.

External links

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